Flags to fly at half-staff for Riverside officer

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gov. Jay Nixon has ordered that the U.S. and Missouri flags be flown at half-staff at all government buildings to honor a Riverside police officer who died after helping Joplin tornado victims.

Thirty-one-year-old officer Jefferson “Jeff” Taylor was injured May 23 when lightning hit the ground near him as he helped in Joplin. He died June 3.

Taylor had undergone successful skin graft surgery and was being treated for other complications when he died.

Nixon ordered all flags at government buildings to fly at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Wednesday.

Taylor was one of a dozen emergency responders from the Kansas City suburb who volunteered to go to Joplin. He was the first Riverside officer to die in the line of duty.